SAS Winter Session Policy

Please note: the language is being kept the same as in the resolution, but these policies now apply to SAS.

A. FAS will continue to permit the offering of courses of more than 2 credits in Winter Session.

B. The following requirements will apply to all FAS courses considered for offering in Winter Session.

B1. FAS continues to recommend the creation of 1.5- and 2-credit courses as most suitable for offering in the compressed time frame of Winter Session.

B2. Any courses offered by FAS during Winter Session will have different course numbers than any corresponding courses given during the regular term, since the Winter Session version is by its nature different from a regular-term course. It is recommended that the "Supplement Code" be explored as a means of this achieving distinctive designation.

B3. FAS requests University funding of research on the evaluation of learning outcomes for winter term courses relative to learning outcomes for comparable regular term courses.

C. The following requirements will apply to FAS courses of more than 2 credits considered or approved for offering in Winter Session.

C1. Instructors of such FAS-approved Winter Session courses will be required to have appropriate prior teaching experience. Departments will be required to provide evidence of that experience to the FAS Dean's Office each year before that Office approves the course for offering in the upcoming Winter term.

C2. When such regular term courses are presented for initial approval of the FAS Curriculum Committee for Winter Session offering (under a new number), both a regular term syllabus and a winter term syllabus will be presented, with the differences highlighted. The department would clarify how the quality of the course is maintained. Differences in instructional methods and assignments would normally be expected; e.g., fewer pages of reading over winter session, with corresponding increases in other work.

C3. Any such regular term courses approved by the FAS Curriculum Committee for Winter Session offering will be subject to review by the Committee every 3 years. Objective evaluations, e.g. of performance on common or comparable examinations or papers, would be included where possible. Common or comparable exams would be required.

Given the timing of Winter Session advertising, SAS will forward such course proposals to Winter Session to be listed as being offered pending faculty approval, if this approval has not been previously obtained. The basic academic concerns are the compressed time period and resulting need for care in the type and manner of instruction that must be given and it is those concerns which need to be resolved to the committee's satisfaction in order for a course to be approved or re-approved.